Bringing Patient Perspectives to the International Stage

Improving health begins with understanding the people behind the diagnosis. For Deirdra “Dee” Terrell, Ph.D., that focus has shaped a research career—and recently brought her expertise to an international meeting in Zurich, Switzerland.

Terrell, a professor of epidemiology in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of Oklahoma Hudson College of Public Health, was invited to participate as an immune thrombocytopenia expert at the 8th Intercontinental Cooperative Immune Thrombocytopenia Study Group Expert Meeting. Centered on “Disease Modifying Treatment in Autoimmunity,” the meeting provided a setting for sharing expertise and examining important questions about treatment and patients’ experiences.

Her presentation, “Quality of Life and Personalized Medicine in Immune Thrombocytopenia: What Are We Missing?” brought attention to a question central to her work: how research can better account for patients’ quality of life and individual needs.

Terrell recently achieved a pivotal moment in her career as she was notified that her National Institutes of Health R01 was funded through the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Dr. Terrell submitted the proposal with her colleague Dr. Neil Zakai at the University of Vermont. The proposal titled ‘Thrombosis and Bleeding Risk in Medical Inpatients’ will develop and implement individualized, risk-informed, and patient-centered decision tools for venous thrombosis prophylaxis. My role as a MPI is to oversee all the mixed methods portion of the grant including designing and conducting quantitative surveys, designing and conducting qualitative interviews, and integrating results from both quantitative and qualitative data.

This achievement is especially meaningful for Dr. Terrell as she describes ‘when you look at the percentage of persons who receive R01 funding from the NIH, approximately 3% of the principal investigators are Black, and when you look at Black females, that percentage goes down to about 1-1.5%. So, I am incredibly thankful and grateful for this opportunity'.

Terrell also has extensive clinical trials expertise and was recently notified that a grant where she partnered with the Black Hills Center for American Indian Health (located in South Dakota) was funded through the Office of Minority Health. The grant proposal “National Lupus Outreach and Clinical Trial Education Program” has the goal of improving clinical trial participation among Native persons with systemic lupus erythematosus through awareness, referral, screening, enrollment, and retention. The grant proposal will train Community Health Representatives and healthcare providers to build a culturally grounded education and referral pipeline. The ultimate goal is to address historical mistrust and improve health literacy and cultural relevance.

Terrell has published 102 peer-reviewed articles and serves as the Co-Chair of the PhD Workforce and member on the Task Force on PhD Career for the American Society of Hematology. She also holds a President’s Associates Presidential Professorship and serves as the college’s assistant dean for Sovereignty, Opportunity, Belonging, & Engagement.

Her invitation to speak in Switzerland highlights the international reach of Hudson College faculty expertise and the relevance of research grounded in patients’ lives. For current and prospective students, her career offers an inspiring example of where epidemiology can lead: from investigating health challenges to contributing to international conversations about how care can better meet people’s needs.